Lebanon conflict a 'war'
19/03/2007 18:19  - (SA)  

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Jerusalem - An Israeli ministerial commission on Monday decided to officially declare last year's conflict in Lebanon a "war," after the government had previously refused to use the term.

Israel's committee responsible for official ceremonies chaired by cabinet minister Yaacov Ederi "decided that the campaign in Lebanon will be explicitly called a war," a statement said.

The committee also decided on three possible names for the 34-day war which has been widely considered a failure in Israel - "the war in the north," "northern shield war" and "the second Lebanon war," following Israel's 1982 invasion of its northern neighbour.

More than 160 Israelis and 1 200 Lebanese were killed during the war, launched after Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah fighters seized two Israeli servicemen in a cross-border raid on July 12.

The army initially called the campaign "Operation Just Reward" and then renamed it "Operation Change of Direction."

Defence minister Amir Peretz, who faces nationwide calls to resign over the conflict, has also commissioned two reserve generals and a law professor to drum up an official name.

Israel has commissioned multiple investigations into the widely perceived failures of the conflict in a bid to assuage public criticism and protests from thousands of army reservists.

- AFP

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